Tag: WW2

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General Eisenhower’s World War II Staff Car

This 1942 Cadillac was used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II and is now on display at the Eisenhower Presidential Museum, Library & Boyhood Home in Abilene, Kansas. It was first delivered to London in 1942 where Eisenhower was commanding U.S. troops and then went with the General to Paris where he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. This well-traveled Cadillac returned to Washington with Ike for his post-war tour of duty as Army Chief of Staff, and it was kept available for his use in New York when he served as president of Columbia University. This same car then went back to Europe when Ike returned to active duty as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

Eisenhower had reportedly tried to purchase the Caddy in 1948, but even this great general could not cut through all the bureaucratic red tape involved in making such a purchase from the U. S. Army. In 1957, anonymous friends purchased the historic vehicle at an army auction in Germany and gifted it to President Eisenhower at the White House. When he was surprised with it, newspapers reported that he responded with, “Oh, it’s my old command car, ” while smiling from ear to ear.

In 1957, this four-door Cadillac had 67,000 miles on it and a fresh coat of olive drab paint. It also had jump seats and a glass panel separating the front and rear areas.

A 2004 story from the Salina Journal describes some preservation efforts made necessary by the passage of time as well as years of being stored in a garage with the hot Kansas sunlight streaming in through many windows. At that time, steps were taken to clean and restitch the leather seats (using the existing holes) and to source and replace plastic parts like Bakelite knobs and some lenses. Some of the interior wood trim was also refinished.

This Cadillac is the very car that carried Eisenhower on the night of May 7, 1945, when he traveled to Reims and refused to meet with the Germans until they agreed to an unconditional surrender. If only this car could talk, the stories it could tell . . .

Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home

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Sam Hanks

Driver Sam Hanks in 1943, looking handsome in uniform:

Prior to the war, Hanks had primarily been a midget racer although he had appeared in a couple of Indy races. He had also worked as a “technical representative” for Fred Offenhauser. Once the war started, Hanks joined the ranks of automobile mechanics, designers, builders and racers who used their skills to help America win the war. The author of this particular story put it this way:

“The boys who used to used to roar around a dirt track in midget automobiles taking their lives in their hands everytime they sat behind a steering wheel of the bouncing bantams now are proving their worth to the war effort.”

When this story was written, Hanks had joined the army and was stationed at Wright Field where he was applying his technical knowledge of motors to aircraft engines. When asked about his post-war plans, Hanks replied that his racing equipment was in storage, and that he was heading back to the tracks once the war was over. He did just that and went on to win Indy in 1957. He retired after that win and was Director of Racing at Indy from 1958 to 1979.

Source: Howard, Bob. “Sam Hanks Stationed at Local Field.”Dayton Sunday Journal Herald, 20 June 1943, p. 2.